Scientific network “Grand Challenges and New Forms of Organizing”
21. Juni 2018
The German Research Foundation has approved funding for a new scientific network. Over the next 3 years the network studies the relationship between societal grand challenges and new forms of organizing.
Grand challenges represent fundamental, global societal challenges of ecological or social nature that require coordinated and collective efforts of multiple actors, including business firms, governments, civil society, and academia. Solving problems like global poverty, climate change or precarious working conditions that emerged as an effect of digitalization and the “sharing economy” are key challenges both for researchers as well as practitioners. At the same time, opportunities arise when considering the role of new technologies and approaches to address grand challenges. They enable the emergence of new forms of temporary, flexible and fluid organizing that may be necessary to discern possible solutions. Yet, academic research that examines the reciprocal relationship between grand challenges and new forms of organization is still nascent.
This network takes an organizational theory perspective on the reciprocal relationship by asking two interdependent research questions. The first question is: What is the relationship between new forms of organizing and grand challenges? Our aim to theorize this relationship is not without complications: On the one hand, examining new forms of organizing in light of grand challenges requires a high degree of theoretical and methodological pluralism in our research. On the other hand, devising practically and managerially relevant solutions requires some degree of consensus among the academic community. The second research question that this network therefore seeks to address is: How can scientific research develop consistent practical implications despite the theoretical and methodological pluralism that pervades organizational research?
Graphical overview:
Project Duration | June 2018 – May 2021 |
Funding Agency | Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) |
Principal Investigator | Dr. Ali Aslan Gümüsay |
Cooperation Partners |
Dr. Emilio Marti Prof. Dr. Hannah Trittin Dr. Christopher Wickert |
Network Members |
Dr. Marlen de la Chaux Prof. Dr. Anja Danner-Schröder Dr. Katharina Dittrich Prof. Dr. Leonhard Dobusch Dr. Sascha Friesike Prof. Dr. Thomas Gegenhuber Michael Grothe-Hammer Dr. Ali Aslan Gümüsay Dr. Arne Kroeger Dr. Emilio Marti Prof. Dr. Dennis Schoeneborn Prof. Dr. Elke Schüßler Prof. Dr. Hannah Trittin Dr. Matthias Wenzel Dr. Christopher Wickert |